Wild West Pioneer Ride June 2013 - Karen Chaton

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It had been a long time since I’ve been to the Wild West ride. I went in 1999 and 2000. I remembered that it was a nice ride and the only reason I went so long inbetween attending it is because of scheduling conflicts. This ride is now a month later, so it worked out really well.

As you can see from the photo of my horses on the trailer, that we are backed up pretty tight in the trees. It’s a great camp, and I find it totally amazing at how many rigs they are able to fit in like pretzels around the pines.

I rode Bo on days 1 and 3, and Chief on day 2. We had a great time on all of the days and really enjoyed all of the fun singletrack trail in the forest.

It worked out really well for us, since the vet checks on day 2 were all out of camp. Chief does so much better when he is ‘out all day’. Bo is starting to get that way and I think that I am going to have to accept that this is what happens with my horses when they get a lot of experience. They have sure been spoiled by doing point to point rides and one big loop ride out of camp all day.

There were two vet checks each day on the 50. We had to pull tack. Fortunately on the out vet check day, Brian was there and helped out. It was great getting to visit with him and catch up as we so seldom see each other. We’ve ridden a lot of miles together and always have fun remembering all of the great adventures that we’ve shared. It was so fun that Brian even thought to wear his Rocky does Tevis crew t-shirt from 1999!

The trail was marked very well. On the first day I missed a turn here and there, along with a few other riders — fortunately we all got back on track quickly so didn’t do a lot of extra miles. After that, we all figured out how to pay attention better and I managed to stay on trail the entire time on day 2 and 3. There was plenty of water on the trail, and water in the checks available if needed for sponging...

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